European stainless steel mills were pushing for increases to the price of grade-304 cold-rolled (CR) sheet and were likely to be successful because of reduced competition from imported tonnages out of Asia, sources told Fastmarkets on Friday April 5.
Mills were seeking price increases beyond those which were dictated by the higher monthly alloy surcharges for April.Grade-304 CR sheet surcharges for April increased by ?,?79 per tonne from the value in March, but one distributor reported that offers from mills had increased this week by ?,?110-140 ($124-157) per tonne, with other sources confirming similar rises.Grade-304 base prices, excluding the alloy surcharge, came under sustained pressure during the second half of 2018 from competition with low-cost imports from Asia. While these imports were still present in the European market, a number of...